Onboarding readiness check: is your first year designed, or left to chance?

What this check measures

Most onboarding is judged by its first day: was the laptop ready, did the welcome session run. That is a checklist. The question this check asks is wider: across the whole first year, how much of what a new hire needs is designed for everyone, and how much is left to the manager they happen to get?

The check is built on GoldinKollar’s onboarding success matrix. It is the model we use when we design onboarding with organisations, and it is short enough to score in a few minutes.

In 2018, Gallup reported that only 12% of US employees strongly agree that their organisation does a great job of onboarding new employees. The figure is not about your organisation. It is a reason to look at yours with the same honesty.

The model: four things a new hire must be able to say

A new hire is onboarded when they can say four things, and mean them:

• I Know. I know what to do, where to go and who to ask.
• I Like. I like being here: the place and the people feel right.
• I Can. I can do the job: the access, the tools and the skills are there.
• I Will. I will stay and give my best: I see a future here.

Each one fails in its own way. A new hire who knows everything but does not like the place is polite and already looking. One who likes the team but cannot get access to the systems is busy and unproductive. Will is the one most programmes forget, because it is not a task anyone can tick.

Three outcomes: Say, Strive, Stay

Onboarding exists for three outcomes, and the matrix feeds each of them:

• Say positive. New hires speak well of you, to friends and online. It comes from Like and Will: a memorable experience and a reason to believe in the place.
• Strive fast. New hires reach full productivity sooner. It comes from Know and Can: clear, simple information and the means to act on it.
• Stay long. New hires are still with you after the first year. It comes from Will in the later stages, when the decision to stay is really made.

The check states this mapping on your result, so you can see exactly which answers drive each outcome.

Four stages of the first year

Onboarding is not an event. GoldinKollar’s experience arc runs from the first message to the first anniversary: onboard in the first two weeks, engage in the first three months, perform and develop through the first year. Before all of it comes pre-boarding, the weeks between the signed offer and day one. The check uses four stages, each with the question a new hire is asking at that point:

• Before day one — what happens on my first day?
• First two weeks — can I do this job?
• First three months — do I belong here?
• First year — do I have a future here?

How to score a cell

For each stage and each of Know, Like, Can and Will, choose how well your programme makes it true:

• 0 — Nothing planned. It happens by chance, or not at all.
• 1 — Left to the manager. It depends on who the new hire reports to.
• 2 — Planned for some. Some teams, sites or roles get it.
• 3 — Planned for everyone. Every new hire gets it, by design.
• 4 — Planned for everyone, and checked. A pulse, a check-in or a measure tells you it happened.

The top score needs evidence. If you cannot point to the pulse, the check-in or the number, the cell is a 3. That rule makes every result arguable: anyone who disagrees with a 4 can ask to see the check.

How your result is calculated

Your sixteen answers add up to a number out of 64, shown as a readiness index out of 100. Each stage and each outcome is scored the same way, from its four cells out of 16. Your level follows the index:

These are design thresholds, not a benchmark. They describe your answers, not how other organisations score. One rule overrides the arithmetic: if Will scores 0 in any stage, Stay reads “at risk” whatever else you answered, because a stage where nothing is planned to make people want to stay is where they decide to go.

Your result names the two weakest cells, says what good looks like in each, and turns them into a 90-day plan. If no cell is below 3, the result says so plainly: the design is not the problem, and the next step is to check whether new hires experience it as designed.

What a result can and cannot tell you

This is a self-assessment based on the answers you give. It describes what your programme plans and checks, as you see it. It does not measure what new hires experienced; that needs their own answers, before they start and again a few months in. The plan in your result begins exactly there.

For the stages in depth, read our guide to an onboarding program for new employees and why the first week tests every promise in the first truth moment of onboarding. For the wider picture, see our work on employee experience and how we design pre-boarding and onboarding.

Frequently asked questions

What is the onboarding success matrix?

It is GoldinKollar’s model of a successful start: a new hire can say I Know, I Like, I Can and I Will. The check scores each of the four across four stages of the first year, which gives a 4 x 4 grid of sixteen cells.

Why does a 4 need evidence?

Because a score that cannot be checked cannot be argued with. A 3 means the programme is planned for everyone. A 4 means you also know it happened: a pulse, a check-in or a measure. Without that evidence, score the cell 3.

How are Say positive, Strive fast and Stay long calculated?

Say comes from your Like and Will answers in all four stages. Strive comes from Know and Can in all four stages. Stay comes from Will in the first three months and the first year. Each is shown out of 100, with its design thresholds: at risk below 40, partly designed from 40 to 64, designed from 65.

Is my index compared with other organisations?

No. There is no benchmark in this check. The level thresholds are design thresholds: they tell you how much of your own first year is designed and checked, not where you rank.

What happens to my answers?

To see your result you leave your name and work email. We save them with your answers to send you the report and to follow up about it. Your photo, if you add one to the certificate, is used only to make your file and is never saved.